A rhythmic spring (also: ebb and flow spring, periodic spring, intermittent spring, potajnice) is a cold water fluctuating spring.
The largest in the world, "Intermittent Spring" is located in Swift Creek canyon in Star Valley, Wyoming. Another major rhythmic spring is the Gihon Spring in the City of David in Jerusalem Israel, which is of great historical, archaeological, and cultural importance because it is what made possible the human settlement in ancient Jerusalem.
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Professor Kip Solomon, a hydrologist at the University of Utah, said, "We can't think of another explanation at the moment".[1] Here's the theory: As groundwater flows continuously into a cavern, it fills a narrow tube that leads out. As it pours over the high point of the tube, it creates a siphon effect, sucking water out of the chamber. Eventually air rushes in and breaks the siphon. The great great grandfather of the Olympic gold medalist Rulon Gardner is credited with the discovery. Gardner says, "He was up there logging. He went up and found a nice little place to get some fresh water. It was intermittent. It went, and stopped. So it was pretty amazing".[1] When the University of Utah conducted and finished their studies, Solomon concluded that "The spring water's gas content has now been tested at the University of Utah. The data strongly suggests the water was exposed to air underground; strong support for the siphon theory."[1]